1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to product display cards, and is directed more particularly to product display cards having a display article mounted therethrough.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A particularly advantageous and popular form of packaging for various products sold in retail trade, especially for products of moderate or small dimensions, is the display card, to which the product is attached or secured by some suitable means, usually in a manner such that the product is readily visible for easy examination by prospective purchasers. A common feature of such display cards is the provision of punched-out portions, allowing the cards to be conveniently presented for sale on pegged self-service display racks such as are in wide use in supermarkets, general merchandise stores, and the like.
An example of a product sold in this manner is the disposable razor. This example is referred to from time to time throughout the specification, though it is to be understood that the invention is broadly applicable to the packaging of numerous types of products presenting similar considerations in package design.
The great number of different products and variations of products being sold in retail establishments such as those mentioned above puts display space at a premium, and accordingly it is incumbent upon the package designer to make the most efficient use of the limited space available, i.e., to provide for the display of the greatest amount of product in the smallest possible space. This is particularly true for products to be displayed at checkout counters, where display space is severely limited.
A related consideration is based upon the fact that great numbers of existing "standard" display racks are currently in use in thousands of selling locations. In order that these existing display racks be usable for new products, the display cards must meet certain dimensional requirements. In the above-mentioned example of disposable razors and like products, a great many of the existing pegged display racks are so designed as to accept product display cards not wider than 43/8 inches and frequently no more than 43/8 inches square. For comparison a typical disposable razor in wide distribution is about 4 inches in overall length.
Mention may also be made of certain other factors in the design of an optimal package. For the sake of economy it is desirable to use the minimum quantity of packaging materials; for products sold in great quantities, even a small saving in materials per package can amount to considerable savings overall. At the same time attention should be given to adaptability of the display card to automatic machine loading of the product thereon.
One type of display card in common use is the blister package, which is well known in the art. The product (or products) is set into a clear plastic bubble, or blister, formed to a shape generally complementary to the shape of the packaged article; and a card, usually paperboard, is heat sealed to the blister. While package size constraints can be met (assuming the product itself meets the size constraints), for many products the expense of complete enclosure in a protective plastic bubble is not necessary; and, in any event, when the configuration of the product provides a nesting capability, the advantage of that capability is generally not available with the blister package.
Another related type of package known in the art involves a flexible pouch, with or without a backing card, with the products loosely arrayed in the pouch. Because the products can often tumble about in the pouch and cause it to bulge, the number of such pouch packages that can be hung on a peg of given length is limited. As before the advantage if the product has a nesting capability is not realized.
Now considering further those products that do have a nesting capability, it will be appreciated that a greater quantity of product can be stored and displayed in a given space. It is known in the art that in card-mounting such products, the nesting capability may be enjoyed if the product is mounted through the card, the card in effect more or less bisecting the product and not getting in the way when the front portion of one unit of the product nests into the complementary-shaped rear portion of a second unit of the product on an adjacent card.
When the product has this nesting capability and in addition size constraints are imposed, as in the aforementioned example of 4-inch disposable razors to be mounted on a 43/8 inch square display card, it has been difficult to design a card that combines both the most efficient use of space on the card and the capability of automatic machine loading. Referring again to the disposable razor example, an efficient use of card space involves arranging the razors straight across the card in alternating head-to-toe close-packed array. For this purpose a suitable card could have parallel front and rear panels formed from a suitably cut and scored blank folding back on itself to form the two panels, the cutout portions of the panels suitably dimensioned to receive and retain the razor through the card.
With this arrangement automatic machine loading of the card is not practical, because in the example, cutouts in the card long enough to accept the product dropped in by machine would have to be so long as to run substantially to the edges of the blank, thereby weakening it and so adversely affecting its structural integrity that the finished display card could not be formed properly. The alternative is to make the cutout shorter, leaving sufficient uncut paperboard at the ends for the blank to remain structurally sound, the shorter cutout allowing the products to be inserted through at an angle, then straightened and brought to final position with portions of the product extending to either side of the finished display card. This complex motion of inserting at an angle and subsequently straightening or repositioning does not readily lend itself to machine operations.